Scientists find out how to avoid obesity with genetic predisposition

By Alimat Aliyeva

Scientists from Songyungwan University in South Korea have found that giving up a sedentary lifestyle reduces the risk of developing obesity, despite the presence of genetic risks, Azernews reports.

About 338,000 Britons took part in the study. Scientists collected information about the health of volunteers and assessed their commitment to a healthy lifestyle (HLS) by five indicators — alcohol consumption, sleep duration, physical activity, lifestyle, nutrition and the amount of time regularly spent in a sitting position.

The researchers also predicted the risks of obesity in volunteers using the Cox Regression method (proportional risks model). The Cox model allows us to assess the risks of a certain event (obesity) for the object in question (a person) and assess the influence of independent variables (genes) on this risk. As part of the scientific work, the probability of developing obesity in each of the subjects was predicted by the age of 75.

The results showed that the risk of obesity in people with an unhealthy lifestyle and a genetic predisposition to the disease was 3.54 times higher than in adherents of healthy lifestyle in the absence of genetic predisposition. Nevertheless, a reduction in time spent sitting correlated with a significant reduction in the risk of developing obesity, regardless of the genetic risk.

Scientists have noted that an unbalanced diet, poor sleep and lack of physical activity can have a more pronounced negative effect on body weight than carrying "predisposing" genes for obesity.